#alternate endings

[imgivingyouthechoice]

[eleanore-delphinium]

The 'What Ifs' of Death: When Everything Burns

DISCLAIMER: death, open-ending (ish).

I'm pretty proud of how this is written, I hope you enjoyed this piece.

~.~.~.~.~.~

Damian was looking at the screen, all the love he had for the woman being displayed on it was clear as day. Just as bright as the sunshine passing through the clear windows. The white room is somehow whiter than it should be.

He smiled at her, admiring her beauty, “I can’t wait to see you.” He told her.

Raven was currently in a spaceship flying back to Earth from an off-planet mission. In fact, he was the one who set the mission up, he should have been there but he was told that he was needed on Earth. And so, he stayed.

And the young couple could feel the distance of being many lightyears away from one another.

She smiled back at him, a hand on the screen as if caressing him, “If only I could teleport there with magic, then we wouldn’t be in this situation.” 

He chuckled and scrunched up his nose, “It would take way too many trips for you to do that.”

They both laughed. And even through the screen Damian could see her eyes sparkling and he could feel the love she had for him.

He was lean and in his Robin Uniform and she would always tease him to bulk up a little. How the thought of being wrapped around big arms might hit differently for her. He’d tell her that the thought of it was rather tempting. Then he’d proceed to tease her if she wanted his arms as big as her thighs, and laughter would always ensue after a strong embrace. 

They’ve been together for five years and they’ve had their fair share of bumps on the road, but God did he love those five years. But that wasn’t when they started liking each other. They liked each other way before they even started dating. 

It was admittedly hard for him to admit just how much she made his heart flutter. Acting on these feelings was against his teachings in the League of Assassins– she was a liability– a weakness. But whenever he saw her, he’d forget those sacred teachings.

Just like right now. He wasn’t a trained killer. He was simply the love of her life.

Raven stopped laughing, her mouth opened to say something, the love for the man she was staring at was so very clear.

So clear. So evident. 

Then suddenly it was way too bright and then the screen went white.

Loud screaming came out from the lips of Damian who laid on the center of a circular bed that had dark green sheets made of silk. There were black muslin drapes that cascaded from the ceiling on top of the bed down to the floor. The transparency of the black muslin cloth somehow painted a mysterious and dark atmosphere in the already dark room.

It was a cold, dark, and quite empty space despite the gold that glittered at their own little corners. 

The man shot up from his bed full of sweat. His eyes, the color of luscious leaves from an untouched forest, were wide. His tanned body was filled with many scars, his bare torso and arms reflected years of fighting. And underneath all the symbols of suffering and torment was a well-toned body. His strong hands gripped his hair. 

He was older now, bigger, and in those green eyes, there was nothing but darkness.

Damian al Ghul crouched over as he brought his knees closer. Even after ten years, the horror of that day would leave him shaking. He, whose hands had ended more lives than he could be bothered to count. 

He bathed in blood with all the evil he had committed, yet he would still scream like a child at that treacherous memory.

At that time, he was simply talking to the love of his life who just wanted to return home to him, when a blast from out of nowhere killed her and everyone on that ship. She was returning– to him. 

He sobbed as he closed his eyes. 

It still hurts even now.

And yet, all he could see was her figure behind fluttering eyelids.

It was a mission that he prepared for. He was supposed to be on that ship with her. And yet, he wasn’t because someone told him he was more needed on Earth. He wished so many times that he was aboard that ship, so then maybe, if there was an afterlife, he would be with her too.

That tragedy was the catalyst for him to join the League of Assassins.

He clenched his teeth and glared at the wall, as he inhaled deeply. He calmed himself and with a cold gaze, as if he was not grieving a moment ago, got out of bed, stark naked. 

This was Damian al Ghul.

A cold cruel demon.

He grabbed his black robe that had gold details from a chair and put the sleeves through his arms as if it were made of rocks.

His expression was still quite vacant. Though if he was honest, he is nothing but empty since he lost her.

Then the anger came as it always does. He cleared the vanity table in front of him with one sweep of his large arms. 

Then the screaming and thrashing of his things followed as it always does.

When he calmed, he was panting, and a hand was on his forehead. His eyes glanced at the empty bed and for the briefest moment. He thought he saw her.

He froze. Tears in his eyes yet again.

Damian inhaled deeply and closed his eyes. And in that moment where he closed his eyes to escape her, he swore he could faintly hear her voice echo through the room.

“You’ve never been this hot-tempered.” Her voice coaxed him, “Calm down, my love.” 

He opened his eyes and swore he could see her on that bed with a hand extended to him. But when he blinked again, the illusion was gone. 

He could never truly escape her.

His gaze fell to the floor in defeat and when he brought it back up, it was filled with ice. 

He wrapped his robe around his body as he walked out of his bedroom.

Damian walked barefoot through the halls of Nanda Parbat. The cold prickling his feet was comforting for him. He knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep again and so he wandered.

His feet brought him to the cold pools of one of his private baths. A bright place that felt rather mocking to the inner darkness and turmoil that he was feeling. He took the robe off as he settled into the coldness of the water fully, holding his breath as he stayed under.

When it was confirmed that the ship, they were in was totally incinerated, he was nothing but a shell. Damian didn’t remember who else was on that ship. All he could remember was Raven and their last conversation.

It was too cruel.

It was a normal call.

He sat there on the bench with vacant eyes, he couldn’t believe it. He didn’t want to believe it. 

What was worse was that they couldn’t even give him her corpse. He wept silently. If he had her body then he could use the pit. He would use it in a heartbeat. Damn, the consequences of using those ugly green waters if it brought her back. He’d revive her, even if it was just to bring him five more minutes with her. 

Damian buried his face in his shaky hands, he was still in his Robin Uniform.

The days passed with him clearly out of it. His mind told him to go back to Nanda Parbat. He had nothing here now. They took her from him.

When he came to, he was in the halls of his childhood home.

Home. 

What a funny word. His eyes gathered water.

Home was wherever Raven and he were together. That was home. Now no matter where he went and no matter how long he stayed, he knew it would never be home.

“Son?” In came Talia’s cautious voice through the halls, the pain in her green eyes was visible. She had the same-colored eyes as his.

But there was only one eye color he wished to see. Those beautiful eyes that were the color of lavenders. 

Arms wrapped around him and whatever control he had shattered. He wept in his mother’s arms like a little boy.

Damian was nineteen when he lost Raven.

One day, months after Raven’s death, in Damian’s bedroom in the League, he pulled out her hairbrush from a box of her things. With his altered mind from the death of his lover and the period he had spent with the League, he wondered if his mother could create a clone of her.

And he kept staring at the brush that had several strands of her hair still there. It should be more than enough.

His mother made clones of him, so why not her?

Then in the very least, he would have her.

Damian inhaled loudly, breaking the silence and his dark thoughts.

Raven would hate him, he thought, but would that really matter?

His green eyes started to become flooded with water again. A frequent occurrence. 

If he had a clone of Raven made, it wouldn’t be her. Not really, not exactly. But he’d be able to hold her again, in his arms and keep her safe there.

Despite Damian standing firmly on his feet, he was swaying, eyes still locked at the brush in his hands. His hot tears dripped onto the floor. 

It won't be her, not fully, but it would still be her, wouldn’t it?

He was sure his mother could do it. She could. He couldn’t breathe in this big room. He couldn’t breathe properly since she disappeared in a literal flash.

Another loud gasp as Damian pulled himself out of the water. He recalled how often he’d sit on a bench and think of asking his mother to give Raven back to him, even if it was just a fraction of his beloved.

If a clone could fix it all.

He knew Talia al Ghul could do it.

But was it worth it?

Anything was worth it as long as he could see her– be with her. And live out the life they had planned together.

He raised a hand from the water as he bent his head and massaged his forehead.

Raven would hate him.

Maybe.

In some other time, in some other place, violet eyes opened with a gasp from her rosy lips. 

~.~.~.~.~.~

I'm sure there will be questions about the ending. So first, initially it was supposed to be a Raven from another world seeing what happened to a version of Damian in the multiverse. But I thought the open ending was better. It opens the possibility that this Damian did make a clone of her. Or some other thing. So interpretation is up to you. I might even make a short about those other possibilities.

[witchthewriter]

𝐒𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐲: 𝐀𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠

with @yourwinchesterbros.

Everyone is welcome to comment!

This is a post for discussing what could have happened in SoA. The ‘what ifs’, and ‘could haves.’ E.g., what if Opie didn’t die and someone else did? Or if Juice made different decisions, would there have been a different outcome? 

Everyone’s opinions will be respected, and there are no wrong takes.

You can either reblog with your take, or talk in the comments 🌻🌿🌷

This post will have major spoilers.

I felt like they used the miscommunication trope in the ending, and I absolutely despise that choice. In every sort of media, I think it’s a bit of a cop-out for writers in all honesty. 

   I’m still bitter that Opie died, I think it was a necessary death for Jax’s character development. But what if he hadn’t? I think the show would still feel a bit light-hearted. After Opie’s death, the show felt colder. 

[shayaltair]

As it's been confirmed Xiao worries about the Traveler not calling his name, here's an older fic that's near and dear to my heart. 🥰

#XiaoLumi Hurt/Comfort for both characters, and two ending options to enjoy!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/30113922/chapters/74175456

[quirklessidiot]

I finally opened my tumblr after more than a year and I’m surprised and glad you’re back! I remember way back when Gojo got unboxed, did you know Minazuki is the first thing that came to mind? I know the story ended back then but I did wonder if you happen to be inspired to continue the story😭 The way you write gojo without mischaracterizing him is so good.

i actually feel so happy that a lot of you thought of minazuki whne gojo returned🥹😭 thats so fucking sweet yall making me bawl (also even funnier that now that hes dead a lot had been asking whats going to happen now hALP)

As of the moment im rewriting and rewriting the sequel because of some stuff going on in JJK (also because their are like physics involved in the domains like wtf gege really outsold himself,)

i think hes much softer in minazuki than he is in canon. I made him very raw and human HAHAHA🥹😭😭😭

ANON. Are there any scenes that didnt make it in minazuki? What were there?

I know i used to have like drafts and scenes that focused and centered on y/ns past? Basically they were remnants of what led to the marriage. Also i think i had planned for y/n to be in shibuya during the closing of satoru.

Since y/n is technically a cursed spirit, geto can ingest her. He was suppose to use y/n as a trump card to distract gojo as well (kenjaku could defeat y/n. Shes basically undertrained and hes like a millennium old monster) , altho she snaps out of the whole puppet thing, and eventually slices her neck in front of satoru with her own blade. Satoru sees this all so the last thing he sees as the box closes is y/ns blood spluttering to his face,

Minazuki ends with satoru trapped in the box but his “vision” is different. Basically the vision shows an alternate world where theyre normal, hes simply a physics professor and hes married to y/n. He snaps out of it though because its the prison box, and he suddenly feels smthng warm on his face (which is y/ns blood) and he has a mental breakdown because he realizes y/n is dead and everything in front of him is fake.

[aggravateddurian]

Also, I feel we should’ve gotten reactions from Reed, Myers, Alex and maybe So Mi for the endings. Imagine Reed being actually happy when he finds out about Don’t Fear The Reaper and Myers being extremely impressed.

Reed (requires V to have betrayed So Mi): "V, I didn't realise that when you told me you needed more time, you were just going to go and invade Arasaka Tower solo. Brave, but foolish. There was a safer, simpler option... but it might've been better this way. For you, for everyone you know. Take care, V."

Alex (requires V to have saved So Mi): "So rumour has it that a single man/woman assaulted Arasaka Tower, caused billions of eddies' worth of damage, defeated Adam Smasher solo and then destroyed Arasaka's most valuable piece of technology. Rumour also has it that it matches the description of a known FIA defector... not that I'd know anything about it. Take care, V, know you likely don't have a lot of time left. Enjoy what you can."

Myers (requires V to not have betrayed the NUSA): "I'll admit, V, though it's inappropriate for a head of state to make personal comments on such situations, I'm willing to go on the record and say that I'm impressed. A solo attack against Arasaka... V, if you're able to hear this, which I know to be unlikely given your... condition, contact me. We have ways to help you, if not cure you, then extend your life significantly. The NUSA could use someone like you... needs someone like you."

[scaly-freaks]

Five facts about this for post BJ Amaragon AU please

MY OWN REBLOG BEING USED AGAINST ME *keels over and faceplants* Well I did ask for it, I suppose.

So the original plotline for Burning Jasmine was indeed going to be a hot mess. It involved a lot of time skips etc etc. Amara didn't go to King's Landing to help kickstart the war for the greens, she fled to Dorne, and Aegon fought the war alone. By the time she returned, he was king, and naturally very bitter and hateful, and he immediately threw her into chains. Being that she's the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, that was quite the scandal, but he didn't care to listen to anyone's counsel on the matter. The first of the kids was also conceived in the dungeon so...Rhaenicent dungeon sex but with Amaegon I suppose.

Amara was never happy as the Queen. She craved freedom too much, and wasn't fond of having to be responsible for so much as the mother of the realm etc etc. But she made her peace with it, even if something was forever ruined between her and Aegon.

And then in true ASOIAF fashion, their eldest Maelor dies young due to illness, and Valerion his twin becomes the crown prince.

NOW -

If you know anything of Valerion, you know exactly what was going to happen with the realm once he became King. That man was neither temperate nor just, and became the true Maegor 2.0 everyone accused Rhaenyra of being *-*

[karizard-ao3]

To be completely honest my main interest in an alternative ending would be a full on confrontation between Eren and Mikasa. Where she confronts him head on about the table scene, his shitty choices and motives, his betrayal and unjust treatment of her and their friends. Also getting more into Eren’s thought process. We had Eren’s breakdown with Armin but it’s not the same with Mikasa. Why he’d let himself die instead of being with her. Just the emotional and psychological charging of such a scene would be great. Most of these weren’t addressed in canon, and while angst is great (she gets the cabin dream but in that timeline the horrible things he’s done never happened so she could never call him out on the rumbling, and so on), I’d love to see this confrontation

Oh, that would be neat! I actually wrote a scene a long time ago where they have somewhat of a confrontation. I'll copy paste it here, but please be aware I had not written anything creative for years when I wrote this and I'm very self-conscious about it:

BEGIN SCENE

Mikasa Ackerman lay on her cot belowdeck, the boat’s gentle rocking lulling her as though she were an infant in her mother’s arms. She had been anxious and heartbroken ever since the walls of Paradis Island fell. Somewhere out there the love of her life, Eren Jaeger, was busily committing genocide and she couldn’t do anything about it but wait for their ship to arrive in Odiha, wait for the Azumabito engineers to assemble the flying boat, and then to try to find Eren and hopefully stop him (without killing him, she hoped, despite what Annie and Jean kept saying) before he flattened the entire planet with his horde of colossal titans. Her stomach twisted painfully as she remembered the last time she had seen him, when he had told her how much he hated her. He told her she was a slave to her Ackerman blood, that he couldn’t stand to look at her, and then proceeded to beat up their best friend, Armin. She hadn’t seen Eren since, and although Armin, the smartest person she knew, believed that Eren had been purposely pushing them away for unknown reasons, his words had been ringing through her head ever since. Her Ackerman blood undoubtedly gave her almost godlike fighting abilities, and the rumor was that it also made her resistant to the powers of the Founding Titan that Eren was now using to manipulate his titan army, but was it also really true when Eren had told her that her Ackerman blood had enslaved her to him? Was she only imprinted on Eren? She got headaches, just like he had said, but she couldn’t remember if the headaches had started before or after she had met Eren and he had draped his scarf around her neck. Mikasa gripped that scarf now and struggled to blink back her tears. She was so angry at him. How dare he cast her entire life and their entire relationship into question? They had always been more than just friends. They were each other’s only family, not by blood but by choice. She had risked her own life time and again to protect him (was that just her Ackerman blood in action?) He was her home after everything else was gone. She had thought he felt, if not as strongly about it as she did, at least something similar. Despite everything, she wished that Eren were here with her now. As much as he may hate her, as many people as he trampled, as angry as she was, she couldn’t pretend that she didn’t still want to be near him. She shut her eyes against the tears welling up inside them.

When she opened her eyes she was laying under a tree on a hill, the sunlight twinkling through the leafy awning above her. She gazed at the sun-spackled branches above her, knowing that if she only turned her head to the left she would see the walls of Shiganshina District there. This was the hill where Eren used to fall asleep when they were children. She was laying there now, just as he used to. Was she dreaming? As she reached up to wipe the wetness from her eyes, a soft exhale beside her startled her, and in an instant she had lurched upwards and onto her side, propping herself on her elbow and readying herself to grapple as she turned towards her unknown companion.

Eren looked back at her. His face fell as his eyes scanned her. “Were you crying?”

Mikasa ignored him and, with narrowed eyes, studied their surroundings. Behind him, flowers speckled the meadow. Bees bumbled from flower to flower, but she noticed that no butterflies danced among them. Odd. At the base of the hill, a poorly dressed little girl with blond hair and a sad face sat, running her hands through the grass and watching them through her bangs. Ymir. So this wasn’t real. Physically, Eren was thousands of miles away. They must be in the Paths. Mikasa looked away from the strange child and glanced back at Eren, who must have brought her here with the power of the Founder. She hadn’t realized he could change the scenery. Suddenly irritated that he’d had the nerve to drag her here after all that he’d said to her, she turned her back to him, reaching by habit for the scarf at her neck and realizing that it wasn’t there because she had stopped wearing it. She only held it these days, and only when nothing else could soothe her. It had been folded on her chest when she was on her cot and it either wasn’t here in the Path with her or had slipped to the ground when she’d been startled by Eren’s presence beside her. She slowly lowered her hand from her neck and placed it in her lap. She would not let herself look for the scarf in front of him.

“Mikasa,” Eren whispered, pained by the streaks of tears he had seen on her cheeks and the hollow way her back caved between them. He reached out a hand to touch her shoulder, then stopped and hung his head. He had made a mistake bringing her here. He hadn’t planned to at all. He had visited Armin and the rest of their friends already, then wiped their memories of it. They wouldn’t know they had even spoken until after his death broke the power of the Founding Titan and released his fellow Eldians from their curse. But Mikasa was different. She was an Eldian, yes, but she was an Ackerman, too, and there was a chance the memory wipe wouldn’t work on her long enough for her to kill him without regrets. He didn’t want to make it more difficult for her to do what he believed she was going to have to do, but here he was anyway because as determined as he had been to make her job easier, he had missed her and he had wanted to see her and he couldn’t bear the way they had parted and he was weak. He couldn’t let his last words to her be, “I’ve always hated you.” Now that they were here it was, once again, too late to undo things, so he might as well keep moving forward. He picked up Mikasa’s scarf from where it had fallen. Her head turned towards the movement, almost imperceptibly, but then she looked away again. He crawled around so he could see her in profile and reached out to take her hand. She let him hold it, but she didn’t return his steady squeeze.

“What do you want, Eren?” she asked flatly, staring forward towards the walls.

Eren didn’t reply, just held her hand and gazed at her, drinking her in; her sun dappled black hair, her bottomless dark eyes, and the scar on her cheekbone that was the only blemish on her otherwise pristine face. She buckled under the weight of his eyes on her, and turned her head to finally look at him.

“What do you want, Eren?” she whispered, her heart feeling as though it were breaking. He looked so tired. She felt so tired. She wanted so badly for him to give her a reason to forgive him. He looked at his lap, where her scarf rested, and, letting go of her hand, unfolded it and reached out to wind it around her neck. The familiar warm weight of it settled around her collarbone, and she couldn’t resist nestling into it as a feeling of well-being flooded through her. Eren stood up beside her, and then reached out his hand for hers. “Please, Mikasa. I want to be home one last time.” He helped her to her feet and then, her hand still clutched in his, led her back towards the house where they had lived together with his parents after her mother and father were murdered. Behind them, the soft footsteps of the shabby little girl rustled through the grass and then padded on the cobblestones of Shiganshina.

As they walked, Eren’s warm, rough hand became smaller and softer, her own shrinking in kind. When they stood before the old house they were nine years old again. They, like the house, no longer bore the scars of the Titan attack that had turned their whole world sideways on that day so long ago. Mikasa slipped her small, dimpled hand from Eren’s and pulled her scarf up over her nose. “Do you want to go inside?” she asked.

“Not really,” said Eren, a serious expression cast over his small face. “Most of my fond memories are of playing outside with you and Armin. I like this view of it.”

Mikasa stood beside him and looked at the house, remembering the one happy year she’d spent in Shiganshina with him and his family before the walls fell. Back then she, Armin, and Eren would tear through town like wild animals, laughing and shouting, before falling in exhaustion beside the canal or on the hilltop outside the town to stare out at the sky above the wall and talk about the limitless possibilities that lay before them in the way that only young kids can. She even fondly remembered the childhood scraps they got into with the local bullies. The stakes had seemed so high at the time, but she had always been able to save her her friends when their enemies were just mean older boys.

As if he could read her mind, Eren asked with a wistful chuckle, “Do you remember all the times you had to jump into a fight I had started and rescue me from my own hubris?”

Mikasa smiled in affirmation and then began walking down the road aimlessly, but in the general direction of Armin’s house. Eren trotted to catch up with her. “I never appreciated it at the time, but I always relied on you to save me.” They walked side by side in silence for a few moments. “Mikasa,” said Eren, “I know you’ll want to try, but it’s too late to save me now.”

Mikasa stopped walking and turned to look at him. She opened her mouth to disagree but Eren stopped her with an upraised hand. “It’s too late. I’ve started wheels turning that I can’t turn back. I’m not smart like Armin. Maybe if he were in my place he could have found another way, but all I could do was follow the plan that I saw in my father’s memories and not burden anyone else with what I was going to do. Maybe it’s what I wanted to do. It’s all become twisted in my mind…” He trailed off for a moment, then regained his focus. “This is what I need you to accept.” His eyes bored into hers, his small face growing dark as he repeated, “It’s too late to save me now. All you can do is stop me.”

Mikasa chewed her lip, looking down at her feet. She had already known it was too late. It was too late the moment he had deserted the Survey Corps and disappeared into enemy territory. It was too late the night that Eren had summoned her and the rest of the Survey Corps to Marley so that they could extract him after he had destroyed the Eldian ghetto of Liberio and stolen the Warhammer Titan from the Tybur family. It was certainly too late now. But, there had been a different night in Marley, when maybe things hadn’t gone too far, and Mikasa had often wondered what would have happened if she had answered Eren’s question differently that night. But, no, it was too late for that, too.

Eren looked at her intensely. “Will you stop me, Mikasa?”

She was quiet for a long momet. Finally, “I have to,” she sighed.

“Will you be the one to kill me?”

“Is that the only way to stop you?” she gasped.

“Yes,” he said, somberly.

She hung her head, her stomach roiling with emotions. “Is that… what you want?”

Eren hesitated. “Yes.”

“Then, I suppose I can be the one,” she said, her eye bright with tears.

Eren touched her cheek, making her look at him. “I’m inside the mouth. I don’t know if you’ll remember me telling you this, but… that’s where I am.”

She and Eren looked at each other for a long moment, then Mikasa nodded, and looked away.

Eren looked up at the sky, watching for birds. “I don’t hate you, Mikasa. I’ve never hated you.”

“That’s not what you said.”

“I was lying.”

Mikasa looked down at her hands, her heart quivering pathetically. “Why?”

Eren picked up a rock from the paved road beneath them and chucked it away. “I wanted to make it easier for you to fight against me. I lied about the Ackerman slave bond, too. I thought it would piss you off. Make you want to prove me wrong. Make it easier.”

"Well, you did piss me off,” Mikasa admitted, then looked up at him accusingly. “But you hurt me a lot more. You hurt me."

“I know,” said Eren guiltily. He paused. “I don’t know why you’re so nice to me, but it’s not because I’m your host. Zeke said- well. I don’t know.”

“You were a real asshole to me,” said Mikasa.

“I know,” said Eren, miserably.

“You really messed with my head. I’ve been questioning my entire identity this whole time. Armin said you were making it up, but…” she threw up her hands.

“I brought you here so I could apologize,” he said, weakly. “I didn’t want to leave things between us like that. You’re the most precious person in my life.”

“What about Armin?” she asked, squinting at him dubiously.

“He’s a close second.”

Mikasa regarded him coldly. She had already forgiven him in her heart, but she wasn’t going to let him off the hook yet. “We’re the two most precious people to you and yet you made me think you hated me and you beat up Armin. How could you do that to him? He’s your best friend.”

Eren looked away. “I wanted to protect you both from me.”

Mikasa tutted. “Why should I believe anything you have to say?”

“Because I have no reason to lie to you anymore. I’m never going to get to talk to you again out in the real world. I might get to see you for a moment before you kill me, but- well. I just don’t want to die without making sure my true feelings are known. I visited Falco to apologize for how I used him when I was in Marley, and do you know what he told the brat who killed Sasha? You know what, nevermind. I’m nervous. I’m prattling.” He took a deep breath, ran his hand through his hair, and began again. “Look, Mikasa, I know that all I am to you is family-”

“That’s not true.”

His face fell. “Are you saying you don’t even consider me family anymore?”

“No, I mean you’re much more to me than that,” said Mikasa, angrily.

He looked at her sharply, then blinked in disbelief. When he opened his eyes again, they were standing together in the lot outside the refugee camp in Marley, the first time they had gone. The bright tents lit up before them. Lurking near the biggest tent, a poorly dressed little girl with blond hair and a sad face stood, her face tilted up towards the moon, her shadowed eyes watching from under heavy lids. Eren looked at Mikasa. She looked back at Eren, clad in his Marleyan suit, his dark hair brushing against his jaw line. 18 years old. She could tell without looking down at herself that she was also 18 again. Her woolen Marleyan blazer tickled her skin, just as it had back then. Eren looked down into Mikasa’s face. “But that’s not what you said.” His cheeks flushed red and he looked at his hands. “I asked, ‘What am I to you’,” he mumbled. “And you said-”

Mikasa could feel her own face burning as she also looked down at Eren’s hands worrying at his coat. Since there was nothing left to lose, she said, “I guess I lied to you, too.”

“Why?” he asked, his voice breaking.

“I was afraid of what you would think of me if I told you how I felt,” said Mikasa.

Eren looked into her eyes, just as he had that night that had not been so long ago, even though it felt like a lifetime. “Then… what am I to you?” he asked.

Mikasa smiled sadly. “All my life since I met you, all I’ve wanted is to be by your side. Just once, when you go away I want you to take me with you. I want to run away with you and spend your last four years together, just the two of us. I just want to be with you, at your side.”

Eren’s eyes widened as she spoke. What would he have done if she had said this to him on that night? Would he have been able to slip away the next day and take his first, irreversible step towards genocide? He had been looking for a way out then, and, oh, he wanted so badly to run away with her still, but… It was too late. His face darkened as his heart twisted painfully. Mikasa saw his expression and hung her head, the paleness of her cheeks and the quiver of her lips reminding him of how she had looked when he told her he hated her even though he could never hate her.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I knew you wouldn’t… I’m sorry. I’ll go.” She moved to leave but he caught her upper arms in his hands to hold her in place. With her strength she could easily have broken free but she paused and waited for him. He could feel tears beginning to sting his eyes, but he ignored them. It wasn’t a secret that he was always crying about something. He leaned down and rested his forehead against hers. “I don’t want you to be with me in this hell I’ve made. I want you to be happy. I want you to be free.” His tears made good on their threat and began to stream down his cheeks. “But I also-” his voice broke, but he continued. “I wish I could be at your side, too, Mikasa.”

A surge of relief and sadness and longing washed through Mikasa. Slowly, she lifted her head to look at him, not breaking the contact he had made at their foreheads. They were so close that ther noses were touching. She could feel Eren’s shallow breath against her lips. Her own breath shuddered from her chest. She couldn’t see his mouth- their faces were too close- but she could picture it perfectly. She had often found herself preoccupied with the curve of his lips, their blush pink color, the mystery how how they would taste, how they would feel pressed against her own. Mindlessly, as if in a dream, she tilted her face up, bringing herself another fraction of an inch closer to his mouth. With a soft intake of breath, Eren closed the final, miniscule distance between them and those distracting lips crushed themselves against hers. They were soft, and warm, and salty- was Eren crying again? She lifted her hands to his cheeks and rubbed the tears away with her thumbs as he pulled her closer against him. She parted his lips with her own and their tongues caressed. The rough skin of his close shaved chin scratched against her own as they urgently entwined themselves together. Mikasa’s heart pounded as violently as if she were racing through the woods in her ODM gear. Then Eren’s kisses slowed and, with a look of pained effort, he stepped away, holding her away from him with the same arms he had just used to crush her to him.

“That was selfish of me,” he said, frustrated. “I can’t go back, Mikasa. I can’t undo what I’ve done. I can’t stay at your side. I can only move forward.” Fresh tears welled in his eyes, and he wiped them away with the back of his hand. Mikasa’s heart squeezed in her chest because he was right. She couldn’t be at his side, either. She could only stop him.

[whumpily-ever-after]

9 Alternate endings for Reborn Rich

I just finished the last two episodes of Reborn Rich and oh boy.

This post is going to contain spoilers for this show, so skip this if you don't want to know what happened.

So if you are not familiar with Reborn Rich I will start with a summary.

Reborn Rich is a Korean show that centers around this guy:

Yoon Hyun Woo is a man who worked his way up from poverty to become a secretary for the Jin family, the owners of the lucrative Soonyang Group. Hyun Woo worked with a philosophy of never questioning his orders or thinking for himself. This way of working allowed Hyun Woo to make his way up the cooperate ladder and he dedicated his life and loyalty to the Jin family. This philosophy also became his downfall.

The Jin family set Hyun Woo up to take the fall for embezzlement and ultimately led to Hyun Woo being murdered after he was sent on a job by the Vice Chairman of the Soonyang Group.

(Right before Hyun Woo is shot in the head and falls off a cliff.)

Hyun Woo dies and then he wakes up in the body of a child who happens to be the youngest grandson of the Jin family, Jin Do Jun.

(Young Do Jun. This young actor did an excellent job in the two episodes he was in)

He finds himself thirty years in the past as a different person but with all of the memories of his past life. Do Jun then sets out to find out who was responsible for his murder and to destroy the chance for any of the Jin heirs to take control of the company and the wealth that goes along with it.

So, my first sentence was a lie. This show actually centers around Jin Do Jun who was once but is no longer Yoon Hyun Woo.

(Jin Do Jun who looks exactly like Yoon Hyun Woo to the audience, but not to any of the characters in the show apparently)

However, all of Do Jun’s actions are influenced by his previous life. But the show spends so much time in the past that finding out who was responsible for his murder no longer seems so important.

Now for the real reason for this post. Episode 16.

This post is going to get long and spoiler-y so I will continue under the cut...

So episode 15 ends with our male lead Jin Do Jun in a fatal accident. (this accident happens in 2002) At the beginning of episode 16, we are in a hospital in what I believe is Turkey but we are not with Jin Do Jun.

The show jumped back to 2022 and to Yoon Hyun Woo, who apparently did not die when he was shot in the head and fell off a cliff. He was somehow saved by Seo Min Young (the love interest of Jin Do Jun and the prosecutor fighting against the Jin family) who wants to use him to finally take down the Jin family.

We find out with Hyun Woo what happened in the past (kind of). The takedown of the Jin family happens with the testimony of Hyun Woo but not for their attempted murder of Hyun Woo. No, he was an accomplice to Jin Do Jun's murder and recorded a conversation that implicated the oldest son.

Ultimately, an unsatisfying ending that made the last 14 episodes pointless.

I am calling the next part of this post:

(9) Alternate endings for Reborn Rich that would have been significantly less dumb and not ruined the last 14 episodes

1.Grandpa didn’t die a year before Do Jun’s supposed death. Grandpa’s assistant spirits Do Jun away after the accident to where Grandpa is hiding. They pretend Do Jun is dead and the three of them continue to work to put Soonyang in Do Jun’s hands.

2. Do Jun doesn’t die in the accident but those who are on his side pretend he is dead. His recovery and plans take 20 years and everyone is surprised to see him return.

3. Do Jun’s spirit enters into Yoon Hyun Woo when he dies from the accident and that is why he was reborn as a Jin. The two of them are tied together and will continue with this cycle until the Jin family is taken down.

4. Do Jun doesn’t die but still loses everything he worked for and ends up being the one responsible for Yoon Hyun Woo’s death because he needs him to start again as Do Jun (they are in some sort of time loop, similar to the last scenario).

5. Do Jun dies in the car accident but Hyun Woo and Do Jun are actually physically identical. The Jin family is shocked when they see Hyun Woo show up to take them down. The return of their late nephew/cousin unnerves them and they make even more mistakes than they already did. (I know that Hyun Woo worked for the Jin family for a long time and someone would have noticed a while ago that he looks like the youngest grandson, but with the way this show was written, this totally would have worked)

6. The accident is less serious but still happens and the people responsible kidnap Do Jun until the management rights are officially assigned. They make sure that Do Jun will be unable to get those rights in the future. But Do Jun planned for something like this and with the help of Seo Min Young and Oh Se Hyun, they take down the Jin family.

7. Do Jun goes to the hospital after the accident but when he recovers the hospital staff drugs him so he is unable to leave. The Jin family member responsible for the accident keeps Do Jun in this state and tells the world that he died in the accident. He eventually escapes and takes down the family.

8. Do Jun is rescued after the accident but is seriously injured. Seo Min Young and Oh Se Hyun take care of him and continue the takedown of the Soonyang Group.

9. Yoon Hyun Woo was working for Do Jun all along and he went under deep cover and risked his life to take down the Jin family.

All of these are absolutely ridiculous but I had fun coming up with them. Are they really any more ridiculous than the ending we got?

If you watched the show, please add your own alternate ending in the comments.

[turflamicgaming420]

All 9 alternate endings to the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie

[galeryth]

Reasons why I don't like Sauron reveal in The Rings of Power and how it could have been better executed.

Warning, season 1 spoilers below.

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Firstly is the issue with his relationship with Galadriel. I do not mean this in an "attraction/romance" between them that some see, but rather how they play into each other's character development. 

Galadriel and Sauron see each other as the ultimate enemy and it is set up as such in the very first episode. This begs the question of why Halbrand/Sauron saves her life not once, but several times at sea. 

Sauron is not dumb, and while I can see him trying temp Galadriel to his side I do not feel simply trying to play to her lust for power is in character. Especially when given the choice/chance to truly get rid of her. This is especially confusing with his depiction of her as equal to him as a queen as he does not share power.

Even if this vision was too an attempt of seduction by power at this point he would know this too would fail as her convictions to the light/justice were far greater than her longing to rule. This is shown through the rallying of Numenor, the support of the Southlanders and conviction to save/bring justice for her kin- all of which he was present for.

Secondly is how quick he is to reveal his hand. Having him immediately jump in with asking questions about Mirthril, helping forge said Mirthril and revealing his knowlege of other materials while using the same words with Celebrimbor as was used by Adar to the point where he straight up reveals himself to Galadriel. It feels sloppy and our of character for Sauron.

It makes it as if the making of the rings of power were not even his idea and rather something he happened to stumbled upon and saw he could take advantage of. This humanizing of Sauron weakens him as threat. It goes against him being a cunning strategist who manipulated the elves/Celebrimbor into the creating the rings from the beginning as his main tool of corrupting the world to set in motions his rule.

It also partially ruins the elven rings, which is the reason the elves discover Sauron's decpetion when he wields the one ring for the first time and his true plans/nature is revealed.

Alternate solutions that would have worked better: 

1. Make Halbrand the Oathbreaker King

My personal and original hope for the character would have given a name and unique backstory to a key player in the War of the Ring. 

We see in the show the role/importance of making oaths and keeping them. Oaths, in the context of Tolkein, is a pact with fate itself. This notably shown with Elrond and Durin and the importance of keeping their relationship intact and the receiving of Mithril to help heal the elves while also acting as a double edged sword- the awaking of the Balrog and use of Mirthril to form the rings. (Which I did like as it gave a unique reason for the power and indestructibility the various rings possess).

Thus Halbrand being the oath breaker king would provide a through line of storytelling/fate for Galadriel who also swore an oath to avenge her brother and bring down Sauron. As the Oathbreaker King he would be tied to the following: Saurons continued existence into the third age, Saurons eventual defeat (by fulfilling the Oath at Pelennor Fields), his established personal conflict as both a coward and a leader (fleeing from his people to escape the evils of the East to start anew then later as a way to protect his people from facing the same pain/evil). It would also serve as yet another emotional blow to Galadriel to bind her to Middle Earth as she was the reason he returned to his people in the first place.

2. Make Halbrand fall and become a ringwraith

As mentioned above it would be a great emotional blow to Galadriel as well as to the displaced people of the Southlands. Having Halbrand truly be a King of the south would give elongated conflict between him and Adar and create a war on two fronts- that of Adar coming from his old homeland and the Sauron who is disguised in form and already within his land.

As one who forges, time could be given to Suaron as Annatar or in a completely different disguise building a relationship with Halbrand (paralleling Celebrimbor). This would give a reason for Halbrand to willingly accepting one of the nine rings.

The emotion turmoil of his people (now the beginning of Gondor) and Galadriel having to watch as they lose someone so emotionally important would give the people of Gondor/Southlands a reason to join with the Last Alliance and an another reason for Galadriel personally hate and stand against Sauron.

3. Keep Halbrand as Sauron, but only known to audience

Halbrand as Sauron could work if the slow burn pace was kept. Assuming that he saved Galadriel inorder to attempt to persuade her to his cause (a way to remove her as his main obstacle while strengthening his army) then he would use the same caution around her in Eregion as he did bringing her aboard his raft in the first place and protecting/aiding her thus far.

Have him slowly recover from his wound in the elven halls and have Celebrimbor come to him asking for his imput. This would be done by having Celebrimbor hear from Galadriel that Halbrand is great at forging (as she saw in Numenor) and he would delight in the company of like mind (though Celebrimbor in his arrogance would still think of Halbrand as lesser due to him being 'human'). Halbrand could offer more subtle advice on balancing the mithril (without taking such a direct role) while providing Celebrimbor with a means of thinking he himself came up with idea of the forging of the rings (or atleast the elven ones). This would give Halbrand/Sauron a reason for him not to become suspect to Galadriel, but show the viewer once again that he knows far more than he lets on.

Then, when healed, Halbrand would leave from Eregion claiming to return to the southlands which now has a double meaning. To Galadriel it would appear as is he going back to lead the displaced people of the southlands (while Galadriel remains behind to help her kin) yet it is shown to the viewer that he instead returns to Mordor (possibly with the addition of his shadow being cast in the silhouette of his armored form due to the light coming forth from Mt. Doom), thus confirming that he is Sauron while keeping Galadriel, Elrond and Celebrimbor in the dark.

This would give the chance to have him play multiple roles going forward, the keeping up of the ruse of being Halbrand and ruling the Southlanders while also returning to Eregion as Annatar to finish his work- though not knowing that Celebrimbor has already forged the 3 elven rings.

This would also give way for a double betrayal to Galadriel and be again a strong reason for her to stay even longer in Middle Earth and her deep personal hate of Sauron.

In the end my dissapointment for season 1 was not because of the deviation from the lore or plot of the source material, but rather that it takes away core elements of Sauron and Galadriel characters. Up till this point the writers wove together many of the original ideas and story elements together in unique way that worked well with compacted timeliness. The reveal of Halbrand as Sauron is not the issue, as I foresaw that the show would likely choose this direction, but rather issue cones its execution.

Going forward I feel the manner of this reveal will cause some course correction on the writers part and force the main characters to be pulled in different directions. This will be done for the sake of keeping everyone apart so Sauron can come back for the making of the rest of the rings, possibly in a yet another form (likely Annatar) while not being detected by Galadriel and Elrond who are now aware his desires and plans.

[invertedfate]

Since you're not going to do Genocide anymore, what if Inverted Fate happened in a Souless Pacifist Run? What difference would that made? Also what would happen in a No Mercy Run? (Just killing everyone you encounter instead of everyone you can) Also, will you do the neutral run endings, in case you end the story? It's been fun seeing the comic so far, love it, Also i'm not in IF discord, so in case that sound redundant, sorry

I feel like Inverted Fate simply wouldn't be Inverted Fate if it originated from post-geno or soulless. Frisk and Chara having this close and genuine bond is so pivotal to many aspects of the plot. Though admittedly, I'm just not really into exploring more "evil" Chara scenarios on a personal level. IF Frisk, being IF Frisk, would never do such a run in the first place, so it just kinda falls apart for me. There will be no traditional neutral run endings a-la Undertale because they simply would never happen. Even if Frisk had not reloaded after Everything is (Not) Fine, they would not leave the Underground. Flowey would always insist on resetting and doing things "right". This is also why even if a geno run did happen, it'd die in the Ruins, as Flowey would destroy the Ruins exit and basically create a softlock. IF's "neutral ending" was basically Chapters 47 and 48- the Determinator and Everything is (Not) Fine segments. Pacifist begins with the Determinator rematch. Tho' people are welcome to create what-if fanworks as long as they are clearly labeled as noncanon.

[fivecenturiesverse]

the coming out scene that could have been in “i’m feeling (like i never should)”

transcribed from my docs for you lovely people:

Eddie thinks he’s slightly delirious from whatever pain meds they gave him in the hospital which had just reluctantly released him the morning after they had defeated Vecna. He thinks he’s also still coming down from adrenaline and it’s been a long fucking day. The last time he slept was… he maybe got an hour in the hospital, before that maybe a few shaky hours at Reefer Rick’s. There hasn’t been much time to slow down. And now he’s in Steve Harrington’s car in the back and Robin is half turned in her seat and asking him if he can do his own seatbelt or if he needs help and he doesn’t know why he says it except all of those things and the fact they’re being kind to him, in a way people his own age outside of Gareth and Jeff never are.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” he says, and he’s shaking he’s on such an adrenaline comedown, “and I thought being gay in Hawkins was the worst thing that could happen here.”

There a silence and then Robin starts giggling. “Fuck,” she says, “me too. Like surely it doesn’t get worse than being a lesbian in the middle of fucking nowhere, Indiana. But there’s fucking interdimensional aliens popping up like you thought wrong bitch.”

And it’s not really funny, neither of them are telling particularly funny jokes but Steve is properly laughing, his shoulders shaking. “Rob, do you remember when —” He’s laughing too hard to continue.

“Oh yeah,” says Robin and then she’s howling with laughter.

Eddie doesn’t know what’s funny but it’s making him laugh now, his sides are killing him, it feels like they’re burning through him.

“I really thought being bisexual was the end of the world,” says Steve, banging his hand on the steering wheel. Huh, Eddie hadn’t seen that one coming. “I was crying over that. Vecna probably thought we were such pussies.”

It’s really not funny. “He was like you think you’ve seen trauma,” says Robin, “fucking wabam, bitches.”

[undeniablyares]

And the storyboarding for the 3 routes of the Accidentally an Oiran sequels has begun. 👀

Words cannot express how excited I am to drop all of this for y'all. My beta reader will literally murder me if I spoil anything, though. So just know, it's coming sooner than you may think. I'm about to have a lot of time off to write and edit after top surgery next week. 😏

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Comet Neowise crosses the skies over Taos, NM. Photo: Geraint Smith (July 2020) :: [Scott Horton]

* * * *

Each ending is an hourglass filled with doors. There are times when I feel you might be searching for me, when I can read what is written on the far sides of stars. I'm nearly out of time. My heart is a dragonfly. I'll have to settle for this, standing under a waterfall of words you never said. There are times like this when no ending appears, times when I am so inconsolably happy. - Richard Jackson :: [via Whiskey River] ALTERNATE ENDINGS ::

[entire poem @ alive on all channels]

[pippinoftheshire]

I need to stop writing things that break my heart <3